Thursday, August 7, 2014

I have been a "blog stalker" for about 2 years now! Yes, I admit it! But before you label me as CRAY,CRAY, let me explain....I took a 12 year hiatus from teaching. Yes! When I was pregnant with my daughter I decided I wanted a change of scenery. I ( along with 2 friends ) decided to open up a gift shop. You know the kind...... polka dot wrapping paper, lots of cute stuff, and even a monogram machine! It was a lot of fun (and a ton of hard work). I was so busy with a new baby girl and starting a new business that I didn't even think about teaching again. Until.....My daughter, Jane entered kindergarten! I will never forget the feeling I got when I walked her to class that first day of school. It wasn't just the normal "my baby is starting school" feeling, I also had the "this is where I am supposed to be" feeling. I know, I know! Some of you think I am crazy but I am sure some of you teachers out there get it! Jane did go to a AWESOME school and she had AMAZING teachers, but it was more than that. I knew that I would one day return to the classroom in some sort of fashion.Eight years later, our gift shop closed and the following year I had my second child (a boy). My teaching certificate had expired so I had to take teaching classes and retake the Praxis exam! Thank God ~ I passed! So much had changed in teaching that in order to keep current on the new trends in education, I would read teaching magazines and blogs (and lots of them). In fact, If it wasn't for Deanna Jump, Cara Carroll, and Claudia Cornett, Patty Palmer at Deep Space Sparkle, and Gail and Joan of The Daily 5, I would have never survived a job interview. Lucky for me, I did survive, landed a job at a wonderful school, and began teaching kindergarten again at the age of 40!Anyway, since blogs helped me survive my first year back in the classroom, I decided to create one too!My goal is to share my ideas, successes, and mess ups, in order to become the best teacher I can be!Happy Blogging!Beth